mistakenly think they are adequately covered by a municipal recreation department, but may not be covered at all or the policy may have dangerous exclusions; or

knowingly decide not to buy insurance or only insure tournament travel teams

Significant injuries and related lawsuits regularly occur within Dixie and our carriers pay a significant number of claims

Accident Claim Cost: Average $1,600 Largest over $100,000

General Liability Claim Cost: Average $49,000 Largest over $1,000,000

Don’t be lulled into complacency by the averages. You need to plan for the worst case scenario.

Most common injuries/lawsuits in Dixie (Imagine these happening in your league!

Spectator injuries: Slips/trips/falls in parking lots, on walking paths, and from bleachers; stepping in holes; being struck by balls during player warm ups; being struck by balls due to defective fencing and netting; and being assaulted by coaches, umpires, or other league officials.Player injuries: Slips/trips/falls in parking lots, on walking paths, and off bleachers; dangerous condition on playing field such as hole or exposed wire on fence; lack of supervision resulting in roughhousing or wandering into on-deck area and being hit by bat; lack of improper instruction resulting in inability to avoid wild pitch; being injured by coach hitting ball during batting practice, batting cage injuries, injures in game or scrimmage against older opponents; drowning or near drowning in swimming pools, etc.Coach and staff injuries: Slips/trips/falls in parking lots, on walking paths, and on from bleachers; dangerous condition on playing field such as hole; technique demonstration injuries; batting cage injuries; being struck in head by baseball during batting practice; being assaulted by another coach or official; concession stand lifting injuries or burns, etc.

Lame excuses used for not buying insurance

We have not had any significant injuries or lawsuits in the recent past and therefore are not likely to have any in the near future. Lucky streaks eventually come to an end, and who is going to pay the bills if no insurance is in force?

We believe we can’t afford it. The cost of insurance can easily be loaded into player registration fees for as little as $4 to $11 per player depending on the age group.

We are adequately covered under a municipal recreation department insurance program. While this may be the case in some situations, our analysis of municipal recreation department insurance policies reveals that many times the expected coverage does not cover the league as an entity or its board or the policy has many dangerous exclusions, such as the athletic participants exclusion or sex abuse/molestation exclusion.

Players, parents, board members and volunteers depend on you to purchase insurance to protect them, and you can be sued for managerial negligence if you don't.

Players often can’t get medical treatment if their parents don’t have family health insurance or if they have a high deductible or coinsurance.

Parents will often have no choice but to sue your league, its board members and staff in search of a deep pocket if they can’t pay their medical bills because you did not carry Accident insurance.

Board members and volunteer staff are often shotgunned into lawsuits and they are depending on you to purchase liability insurance to protect their assets.

Failure to carry adequate insurance can result in lawsuits against the league and directors and officers alleging managerial negligence.